Meghan Markle and Prince Harry ‘have not been invited’ to Trooping the Colour for the second year in a row

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be attending Trooping the Colour in London this year.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who live in Montecito with their two children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, after stepping back from their royal duties in 2020, have reportedly not been invited to the King’s birthday celebration.

The pair will miss the annual celebrations for a second year in a row, according to PEOPLE magazine, after Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, didn’t join the Royal Family for the first birthday parade of King Charles’ reign. 

It comes after claims Prince Harry, who did not meet with his father during his whirlwind visit to London last month, turned down an invitation by His Majesty to stay at a royal residence during the trip because he had ‘security concerns’.

MailOnline has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment and representatives of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be attending Trooping the Colour in London this year. Pictured at the event with Charles in 2018

Meghan and Harry first attended Trooping the Colour together in 2018, one month after their royal wedding in Windsor. They once again appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony in 2019, weeks after welcoming their first child.

In 2020 and 2021, the event was scaled down due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was held at Windsor Castle, without the usual large gathering of royal family members.

But the ceremony was brought back to all its glory in 2022 to mark the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.

The Duke and Duchess travelled to the UK to attend the special event – but did not join the Royal Family on the Buckingham Palace balcony, instead watching the occasion with other non-working royals in a room above the Horse Guards Parade.

The latest reports about Trooping the Colour come after it was claimed Prince Harry turned down an invitation by the King to stay at a royal residence when he visited the UK earlier this month because he had ‘security concerns’.

He is said to have declined his father’s offer because it did not come with any taxpayer-funded personal security provision, which would leave him staying in a ‘visible location with public entrance and exit points and no police protection’.

Instead he chose to stay at a hotel – presumably with members of the public – because it meant he ‘could come and go unseen’, claimed The Telegraph.

The newspaper further maintained that the Duke of Sussex ‘remains devastated’ about the withdrawal of his automatic right to police protection which he is still battling the Home Office over through the British courts.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured in Nigeria in May), who live in Montecito with their two children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, after stepping back from their royal duties in 2020, have reportedly not been invited to the King’s birthday celebration

He now has to give the Metropolitan Police 28 days’ notice before coming to the UK if he wants to apply for security provision, with each request assessed on an individual basis by Ravec, the committee which oversees the protection of royalty and public figures.

While it has not been revealed where the King offered Harry a room, St James’ Palace is a strong possibility.

It would have allowed father and son a place to meet in relative privacy and is guarded round-the-clock by a ‘ring of steel’.

In fact all royal residences – whichever one Harry was offered – feature armed guards at entry and exit points, unlike any London hotel, and boast the most sophisticated security systems in the country to protect working members of the family.

Buckingham Palace has consistently declined to comment on anything to do with Harry and his father.

But a spokesman for the prince chose to issue a statement when he came to London at the beginning of May for a service to mark the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games.

It strongly suggested that while Harry was keen to meet his father, the King was effectively ‘too busy’ to see him.

However it has since become clear that while His Majesty did indeed have a packed programme of engagements that week, the King had made conciliatory overtures that would have enabled him to see his son.

In all Harry spent three nights in the capital without seeing any family members before meeting his wife, Meghan, at Heathrow airport and flying onto Nigeria for a quasi-royal tour.

In 2020 Harry applied for a judicial review over the decision to strip himself and his family of publicly funded police protection when they chose to quit royal duties and leave the UK.

Harry leaves the 10th Anniversary Invictus Games service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on May 8

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend a polo fundraiser event in Lagos, Nigeria, on May 12

Instead a ‘bespoke’ arrangement was created that involved assessing each visit on its merits.

The prince has since accused the Home Office of subjecting him to ‘unlawful and unfair treatment’ and claims he has been singled out and treated ‘less favourably’ than other family members as ‘punishment’.

He has offered to pay for his own security but was firmly told the Metropolitan Police couldn’t be treated as a service for ‘hire’.

In February he conclusively lost his legal challenge and was left with an estimated £1 million bill.

However he has vowed to fight on and says he does not feel safe bringing his wife and children to the UK under the current arrangements.

According to the Telegraph, the prince has only been permitted police protection when taking part in royal events, such as the late Queen’s funeral, or when he was transported to meet the King from Heathrow in February after his cancer diagnosis.

The newspaper – which has been given a wealth of detail about Harry’s security arrangements – claims that when travelling to and from his hotel in February, the prince only had his own, private bodyguards.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment at the time of the reports, while a request for comment was put to the Sussexes UK spokesman. 

Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales is considering making an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony after the Trooping the Colour ceremony, it was claimed last month.

Royal officials confirmed that Kate will not attend the Colonel’s Review on June 8 – which is the traditional rehearsal for Trooping the Colour, held on June 15.

But the Daily Mirror reported that the Princess is understood to be considering walking onto the famous balcony if she is feeling well enough.

Kate, 42, who is also undergoing cancer treatment, would have been due to take the salute on June 8 in normal circumstances in her role as Colonel of the Irish Guards.

But she continues to stay away from public royal duties during her chemotherapy while resting at home, and will only return when doctors give her the all-clear.

Lieutenant General James Bucknall, former commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, will be the inspecting officer on Kate’s behalf for the Colonel’s Review.

Buckingham Palace also revealed that King Charles III will travel in a carriage with Queen Camilla on June 15 and will not be on horseback.

Charles, 75, will conduct the review of soldiers at his official birthday parade from an Ascot Landau carriage with Camilla, which is understood to be an adaptation based on doctors’ advice while the monarch continues to have treatment for cancer .

It comes after the Army removed a claim made in March on its website that Kate would be appearing at Trooping the Colour and had begun selling tickets – which caused confusion after Kensington Palace said it had not confirmed her attendance.

2023 — (From left) Prince George, Kate, Prince Louis, Prince William, Princess Charlotte, King Charles and Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Colour on June 17, 2023

It comes after the Army removed a claim made in March on its website that Kate would be appearing at Trooping the Colour (pictured) and had begun selling tickets 

Tickets had gone on sale via the Army website in March advertising Kate reviewing a ‘practice’ parade for the first time on June 8 in her role as honorary colonel of the Irish Guards

MailOnline understands the attendance of other Royal Family members at Trooping the Colour events will be confirmed nearer the time of each one.

During Trooping the Colour, which takes place on Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall, the King will carry out the review of the Guardsmen and officers from the carriage. 

The change from last year’s ceremony, where Charles inspected the troops on horseback, reflects earlier Buckingham Palace briefings where it was highlighted that each engagement by the King would be reviewed and adaptations made when advised by doctors. 

Earlier this year on March 5, the Ministry of Defence removed a claim made on its website that Kate would attend events to mark Trooping the Colour.

Tickets had gone on sale via the Army website advertising Kate reviewing a ‘practice’ parade for the first time on June 8 in her role as honorary colonel of the Irish Guards.

It also announced that Charles would be reviewing his own official birthday parade on June 15 at Horse Guards. 

But within minutes of the tickets going on sale, there were warnings that the MoD may have ‘jumped the gun’.

Kensington Palace sources made clear that they were ‘not consulted’ on the MoD announcement and said that any confirmed attendance by the Princess would be made ‘only’ by themselves.

Buckingham Palace also confirmed at the time that planning for future engagements was continuing despite the King’s cancer treatment, yet stressed that changes could be made nearer the time depending on his health.

The confusion added to a sense of unease around the Royal Family at that point, over fears that two of its most senior members would be largely out of action for substantial periods.

This also came before Kate revealed in an emotional video on March 23 that she was undergoing treatment for cancer.

At that point, Kate was recuperating from what was described as ‘planned abdominal surgery’ and it was seen as unlikely that she would return to duties until after Easter.

Until her cancer announcement, her absence from public events and the scant detail given about her condition and recuperation had led to wild social media conspiracy theories about what might be wrong with her.

Last month, the Army confirmed that Trooping the Colour will go ahead despite the upcoming General Election – confirming the Daily Mail’s story the previous week.

The celebration traditionally involves the royal family gathering on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after a display of pomp and military pageantry.

Usually the monarch rides down from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade via The Mall to inspect the troops. He then rides back to the palace for the traditional balcony appearance with the wider Royal Family and flypast by the RAF.

Queen Elizabeth II attended the event in a carriage after 1987.

The Royal Family announced it would postpone engagements ‘which may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign’ after Rishi Sunak called a surprise summer General Election for July 4.